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JUNE 2026 PROGRAMS

FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN TO THE NORTHERN LIGHTS: JEWISH JOURNEYS TOGETHER

Xueta Island Film Screening and Q&A with Filmmaker

Thursday, June 11, 12:00 pm ET

Xueta Island is a documentary film that explores Inquisition history, Jewish revival, and identity. Some Catholics on the Spanish island of Mallorca (Majorca) have been discriminated against for centuries because their surnames have a connection to a Jewish heritage. They not only endured stigma and humiliation: they were also deprived of fundamental rights as citizens. While a few have been inspired to return to the faith of their ancestors, their recent entry into the leadership of the local Jewish community has caused an unforeseen controversy among its members. Are they the best suited to lead Mallorquin Judaism despite not having practiced their faith for centuries? Join filmmaker Dani Rotstein on a Director Talkback after viewing the film that will be open for two days before the online discussion.
Dani Rotstein is a content producer, entrepreneur, and storyteller from New Jersey whose international media career led him to Mallorca in 2014. There, he uncovered the island’s little-known Jewish history, inspiring his co-direction of the documentary Xueta Island and sparking a mission to help revive Jewish memory in Spain. He founded Jewish Majorca, a travel company offering immersive Jewish heritage tours across Spain and Portugal. Dani also leads the Re-Emerge Project, a documentary series exploring emerging Jewish communities across Latin America. Through storytelling and travel, he connects past and present, one journey at a time.

Learn more about the series here 

 

CSP

The Walnut Street Synagogue is pleased to be a partner congregation of the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program.  Please join us at an upcoming program!

Join Dr. Tamar Ketko to learn about the often-overlooked role of Jewish women during World War II. Drawing on powerful stories as well as documentary, visual, and archival sources, the talk will explore how Jewish women took part in armies and resistance movements across different fronts – from the Soviet Army to Allied forces – while navigating the unique challenges of being both women and Jews in wartime. Dr. Ketko will also examine the experiences of women in the underground and the complex story of volunteers from the Jewish Yishuv who joined the British Army, offering a nuanced and engaging perspective on courage, identity, and difficult choices.
Dr Tamar Ketko is a Senior Lecturer in History, Philosophy and Education, at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kibbutzim College of Education, Tel Aviv. Tamar does research in Education, Philosophy of History, Ethics and the Collective Memory of WWII and the Holocaust. She is the chief curator of the Chaim Herzog Museum of the Jewish Soldier in World War II and one of its founders and is involved in the implementation of this subject in the academic, educational and public system.
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Holy Loopholes – Adaptation and Integrity in Jewish Law

Join us for a provocative and engaging series on some of the most eyebrow-raising practices in Jewish law — from the Eruv and selling Chametz to Heter Iska, Prozbul, Shemitah sales, Shabbat elevators, and more — beginning with an opening session titled “Are the Clever Jews Trying to Fake Us Out?”  We start with the nagging question many people have when they encounter these practices: are these authentic expressions of halachic seriousness, or just brilliant religious workarounds dressed up to look legitimate? With honesty, nuance, and intellectual rigor, this series will explore how generations of rabbinic thinkers confronted real human needs while remaining deeply anchored to the framework of Jewish law, revealing that what may first look like legal sleight-of-hand often opens into a much deeper story about responsibility, creativity, and the moral life of halacha.
Marc Michael Epstein, winner of CSP’s 4th Annual Maimonides Award for Excellence in Adult Jewish Education and the 2015 National Jewish Book Award in Visual Arts for Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink, grew up in Brooklyn in a family of Slonimer and Lubavitcher Hasidim and Romanian socialists. Since 1992 he has taught at Vassar College as Professor of Religion (and founding Director of Jewish Studies), offering courses on medieval Christianity, Jewish texts, and the interplay of religion, art, and politics. An Oberlin and Yale graduate with research at the Hebrew University, he is the author of numerous studies of Jewish visual and material culture, including The Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative, and Religious Imagination, named a Times Literary Supplement “Best Book of the Year.” Formerly Director of Hebrew Books and Manuscripts at Sotheby’s, he now consults internationally for libraries, museums, auction houses, and private collectors; his newest book is People of the Image: Jews and Art.
Part 5 – Program video
Part 6 – Program video
Part 7 – Program video
Part 8 – Program video

 

In a moment when public trust in media is fragile, newsrooms are shrinking, and artificial intelligence is transforming how stories are told, what does it mean to practice honest journalism, especially when reporting on religion, Israel, and the Jewish people? Join veteran New York Times religion correspondent Ari L. Goldman, who spent two decades bringing deep religious literacy and narrative integrity to one of America’s most influential newspapers, for a timely and candid conversation about credibility, bias, vocation, and the future of the profession. A longtime Columbia Journalism School professor and mentor to generations of reporters, Goldman will reflect on how journalists can build trust and moral clarity in a polarized age. In dialogue with Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz, respected spiritual leader and author, this program promises a thoughtful exploration of truth, responsibility, and the enduring intersection of faith and public life.
Ari L. Goldman  is best known for his work covering religion for The New York Times (1973-1993), where he combined deep religious literacy with narrative journalism and did so as an observant Jew. At Columbia’s School of Journalism for over thirty years, Goldman created and taught the influential “Covering Religion” seminar, mentoring generations of religion reporters. In 2020, the Religion News Association honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Goldman is the author of several notable books, including: The Search for God at Harvard, a memoir about his spiritual exploration while studying at Harvard, Being Jewish, an accessible guide to Jewish spiritual and cultural practice and Living a Year of Kaddish, about mourning his father through the Jewish mourning prayer. The Late Starters Orchestra, about learning cello and amateur music-making later in life.
Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz, a spiritual leader and scholar specializing in topics of spirituality and Judaism, teaches, writes and speaks to a wide range of audiences. He served as the rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel in Tustin, California, for over three decades and served as member of the Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Law and Standards for twenty years. Rabbi Spitz is author of Duets on Psalms: Drawing New Meaning from Ancient Words, co-authored with Rabbi Jack Riemer, Healing from Despair: Choosing Wholeness in a Broken World and Does the Soul Survive? A Jewish Journey to Belief in Afterlife.
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Jewish Life in the Confederate South – The Diary of Emma Mordecai 

Emma Mordecai was a complicated figure: both a staunch defender of Judaism, and an ardent Confederate nationalist and slaveowner. Her life, as vividly captured in her wartime diary, is a good example of the messiness of history and the ambiguous place of Jews in the antebellum and Civil War South. Come join us for a discussion of The Civil War Diary of Emma Mordecai, a book initiated by the late Dr. Dianne Ashton, Professor Emerita of Philosophy and World Religion at Rowan University and completed after her passing by Dr. Melissa R. Klapper, Professor of History at Rowan University.
Dr. Melissa R. Klapper is Professor of History and Director of Women’s & Gender Studies at Rowan University. She is the award-winning author of numerous books about American Jewish women and the history of childhood, including Ballots, Babies, and Banners of Peace: American Jewish Women’s Activism, 1890-1940 (NYU, 2013), which won the National Jewish Book Award in Women’s Studies, and Ballet Class: An American History (Oxford, 2020). She is a frequent lecturer in both academic and community settings. Her new book, Jewish Women at Home in the World: Gender, Judaism, and American Identity in the Rise of Mass Tourism will be released this fall.
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Sunday, June 21, 11:00 am to 8:00 pm ET
(in-person program in Cambridge, exact location to be provided with tickets)

From 11:00 am to 8:00 pm Challapalooza will have Boston’s greatest Jew-ish bands including Yiddish song band Levyosn, Old-Time dance band The Ruth and Ben String Band and many more!   Alongside the music festival, teachers will present thought provoking and no-barrier-to-entry classes on anything from Jewish weaving, to Mishnah, to Klezmer history.  Also present will be kosher food trucks and Jew-ish art makers selling their wares and tables from local Jewish organizations, synagogues and artists.